


A Daring Rescue

by OldWomanJosie



Category: Doctor Who
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-01-17
Updated: 2014-01-17
Packaged: 2018-01-09 00:26:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,087
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1139277
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/OldWomanJosie/pseuds/OldWomanJosie
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The story we are going to tell tonight has little to do with the Master and everything to do with a humiliating mistake of his. This mistake was to take River Song prisoner. This is a rather silly and probably inaccurate vaguely Robin Hood-ish historical AU.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Daring Rescue

A long way away from here, in a time period not too far removed from our own, there exists a country town known as Terra Nova. It isn't so much a city as a conglomeration of farms, taverns, liveries, and inns all loosely gathered in the same general area. But to the people, it is home and to their ruler, it is his domain.

The overlord of Terra Nova is a wicked and crazed man. His right name is Harold Lord Saxon, but to the people he rules, he is known only as the Master. The Master rules over Terra Nova with an iron fist; raising taxes, stealing their homes, crops, livestock and daughters, and generally terrorizing the population. He is hated and feared. None dare defy him and his palace guard, the Toclafane. 

None, that is, but one. This defiant rogue is called the Doctor, because nobody knows his true name. The Doctor lives deep within the forest of TARDIS. He is legendary among the inhabitants of Terra Nova, for he is the only man who can steal from the Master and make him look like a fool without paying for it with his life. The Doctor gives what he steals to the opressed people and helps them survive under the Master's hand. He is beloved among them and the Master's most dreaded foe.

The Doctor lives alone, for the most part. The Master has a way of finding and ruining those who run with the Doctor. But some brave few risk the danger anyway. They have high times and hard times and wild adventures, but they never stay for long. It isn't safe. Some leave by choice, some by force. But they all leave eventually and the Doctor is left lonely again.

During the time in which our story is set, the Doctor is no longer alone. He is joined by the Lady Amelia and her betrothed, Squire Rory. Lady Amelia always admired the Doctor, ever since she first saw him at age seven. She waited for years for him to come back for her, and finally he did. Meanwhile, she became betrothed to Squire Rory. Rory is not too sure about her Doctor obsession, but he loves her and will follow her to the ends of the earth. Or, in this case, into the forest of TARDIS to join the mad Doctor's fight against evil.

The story we are going to tell tonight, however, has little to do with the Master and everything to do with a humiliating mistake of his. This mistake was to take River Song prisoner. 

River Song was a mystery to many people. She traveled far and wide, which was and still is unusual for a woman. No one knew very much about her. Some thought she was royalty from some far away land. Most people thought she was a witch. All agreed that she was strange. She was enigmatic, quirky, and knew things she had no business knowing. In short, she was very much like the Doctor.

So of course he had to meet her!

This obviously meant that he had to rescue her from the Master.

"You're insane," was Amy's prompt response (she insisted on Amy rather than Amelia). "There's no way you can waltz in and steal her away from right under the Master's nose. You'll be killed."

The Doctor lounged at the base of a huge oak tree, unconcerned. He was a lanky man dressed in the colors of the forest, crowned with a red feathered cap. His brown hair flopped over one of his twinkling eyes. He winked the other at Amy. "I do insane things every day, Pond," he reminded her, using her family name instead of her own. "And you do them with me. Why is this any different?"

"Because it is," she insisted, standing over him with her hands on hips.

Rory sat on the other side of their fire, whittling quietly. He normally stayed out of the 'discussions' between his fiery betrothed and the maniac Doctor. But now he put in, "Rescuing River is suicide because she's a person." They both turned to look at him. "She's unpredictable. There's a difference between 'liberating' a coin purse or a cow and liberating a human being."

The Doctor smiled giddily. "That's what makes it fun," he stressed. He jumped to his feet and started heading out of the forest."Come along, Rory. Come on, Pond. We'll plan on the way!"

They'd come up with some semblance of a plan by the time they reached the Master's stronghold. It wasn't much of a plan; it was a thing, actually. Which according to the Doctor was a plan but with more greatness. This made it a typical Doctor plan, so it would probably work out in the end. Amy and Rory were more concerned about the in-between parts.

The Doctor explained it again as they sat in hiding outside of the Master's gates. "In the dead of night, you and I," he said, gesturing to Rory and himself, "slip into the castle, spring the lady, steal a few of the Master's horses. Then we escape back to TARDIS, victorious again!" He looked around at his audience with a triumphant smile.

Amy was...less than impressed. "Back to TARDIS? On horses? Just like that?" Amy echoed incredulously.

The Doctor nodded sagely, eyes sparkling. "That's it."

"Well, I like it!" Rory chipped in. "So, how do we get in and out undetected?"

The Doctor paused. They waited expectantly for the revelation of this most critical part of his brilliant plan.

"In the dead of night, you and I slip into the castle-"

"Oh, great," Rory moaned, covering his face with a hand. "We're doomed."

The Doctor frowned, annoyed. "What's wrong with my plan? There's nothing wrong with my plan! The holes just make for a better story later, when we're all home safe."

"Presuming we all _get_ home safe," Rory pointed out.

Amy sighed. "Alright, Rory. Distraction."

There was a slight pause, then Rory ventured, "You'd make a better distraction."

Her eyes narrowed. "Why?"

"Well..." He glanced at the Doctor for support, but the other man was pointedly staying out of things. "You're a girl," Rory finished lamely.

Amy glared at him. "That's sexist."

"It'll work."

Amy looked at her boys. Both were staring expectantly at her. "Fine," she relented. "But you owe me." She took a minute to compose herself, then leaped out of their hiding place and ran pell-mell for the gates.

Rory glanced at the Doctor. "We're doing it now?"

"I guess we are."

Amy dashed up to the gates, then crumpled into an exhausted heap on the ground. The pair of Toclafane on guard were instantly alert. When Amy saw them approaching, she stumbled to her feet and tried to run away. The guards instantly gave chase, leaving Rory and the Doctor to slip into the Master's court.

Rory looked back in the general direction of Amy and the guards. "Will she be alright?"

The Doctor waved off the question. "Of course. Pond can take care of herself."

Rory shrugged, conceding the point, and they set off in search of River Song. According to the kitchen staff (who were on great terms with the Doctor and were willing to tell him just about anything), River was being kept in the south tower. Being that the south tower was also the only tower, they had no problem finding it.

The plan was now to burst in and heroically rescue the damsel. The Doctor did this a lot and many people found it dashing, especially the women he saved. He, pulling Rory along behind him, crashed through the door into the south tower. They raced up the stairs to the very top room, since it was the only room and thus the one in which River Song was kept.

Rory started to say, "Shouldn't we try to find out if-" But the Doctor was way ahead of him and had already flung open the door. He opened his mouth to deliver some clever opening salvo, but the words stopped in his throat and wouldn't emerge. He stopped dead in the doorway and Rory ran up against his back. "What..."

A woman he could only presume was River Song was sitting on the table in the middle of the room, calmly flipping through a small blue book. She was dressed in riding leathers and looked rather like the witch people claimed her to be. She snapped her book closed when the Doctor and Rory entered and said calmly, "Hello, sweetie."

This stopped the Doctor in his tracks. He was, for once in his life, speechless. River hopped down from the table, continuing, "Took you long enough. I was beginning to think you weren't coming." Then she turned to look at him and her face softened. "But then, you always do."

The Doctor was completely hornswoggled by the strange woman, but he recovered quickly. "Of course I do," he answered confidently. "Now come on, quickly! The Master will be along any minute."

But River shook her head. "Oh, I don't think the Master will be going anywhere anytime soon." She went to the window and pointed downward.

Rory and the Doctor leaned out to see the Master far below them, trussed and gagged like a Christmas turkey and sitting miserably in the pig pen. The Doctor couldn't contain a shout of laughter. The Master looked up and saw him framed in the window. His angry glare said everything he could not say aloud.

The Doctor turned back to River, impressed. "But how..." She smiled enigmatically at him and he left the question alone for the time being. "Well. Alright then. Let's be off anyway, Pond is out there somewhere being run down by the Toclafane."

"She can take care of herself," Rory and River said in unison. They stopped and shared a smile. The Doctor rolled his eyes and waved his hands urgently.

"Go, go, go!"

The trio raced down the tower stairs, taking them three at a time. The Doctor turned left out of the door and was five feet into his stride before he realized he was all by himself. River was waiting by the door, arms crossed. "This way," she pointed toward the stables. The Doctor harrumphed and straightened his hat.

"Yes, I was coming to that." The three of them dashed into the stables, commandeered horses, and were away before anyone knew they'd been there.

The Toclafane were incredibly confused to find the Master in the pig pen three hours later. The Master was not amused and swore revenge on both River Song and that blasted Doctor. Again.

Amy Pond, meanwhile, was yet again impatiently waiting for the Doctor. She was perched in the branches of yet another giant oak tree on the outskirts of the forest of TARDIS, pitching acorns at the Toclafane circling her tree and wondering when her Doctor was going to turn up.

It took a while, but turn up he did. The Doctor, River Song, and Squire Rory came thundering over the rise on their horses and charged into the midst of the Toclafane. The Doctor was screaming "GERONIMOOO!!!" like a crazy man and his companions looked equally loony. The Toclafane scattered like bothered ants and were soon out of sight.

The Doctor looked up into the tree at Amy. "Hello, Pond. Having fun?"

Amy swung down from her branch easily and landed behind Rory on his horse. "Oh, tons," she commented lightly. "Nice of you to show up." She glanced over at the extra person in their midst and smiled. "River Song, I assume."

River held out her hand and Amy took it. "And Amy Pond, I assume."

The Doctor tapped his fingers on his saddle horn. "And _I_ assume I'll be getting some answers from you, Miss River Song, once we get home?"

A wistful look passed over River's face. "Ah. Home to TARDIS?"

"No place like it," Amy chimed it. Rory nodded in happy agreement and even the Doctor couldn't surpress a nostalgic smile at the thought of their legendary dwelling. "Let's go home," Amy directed and the group turned their horses to go further into the forest.

"But seriously, I do want answers," the Doctor said, coming back to his original question. "How do you know so much about me? About TARDIS? How did you manage to subdue the Master? Where-"

River's infectious laughter drowned out his questions. "Spoilers, Doctor," she tutted, mock-scolding. "Spoilers."

**Author's Note:**

> This is written with only a glancing knowledge of the fifth series, so I apologize for any characterization discrepencies. I also apologize for anything else you may find wrong with it. Originally written as a gift for the_redjay.


End file.
